Jornal de Biologia Marinha e Oceanografia

A Report on the Micro-Phytoplankton Size Range, Biovolume, Biomass and Geometric Shape in the Post �Aila� (Severe Cyclone) Waters of Estuarine Sundarban-Bay of Bengal, India

Abhishek Mukherjee, Subhajit Das, Minati De, Tushar Kanti Maiti and Tarun Kumar De

A Report on the Micro-Phytoplankton Size Range, Biovolume, Biomass and Geometric Shape in the Post “Aila” (Severe Cyclone) Waters of Estuarine Sundarban-Bay of Bengal, India

The Sundarban was rampaged by a severe tropical super cyclone designated as BOB 02 or more popularly as “Aila” on 25th May of 2009 and it changed the face of the deltaic region forever. The present study commenced on March, 2010 and continued till February of 2013 to capture the detailed effect of the physicochemical and meteorological parameters on the existing phytoplankton community. In order to predict the changes, if any, in metabolism of the microphytoplanktons, biovolume and biomass were selected as indices. The Hooghly estuary was chosen as the study site since it is the largest estuary of the River Ganges and should reflect the scenario better being a tropical well mixed estuary. The study revealed higher proportion of diatoms, dinoflagellates and Cyanophyceae than before.